School bus



J. K. FARRIS March 22, 1938.

SCHOOL BUS Filed April 8, 1937 Patented Mar. 22, 1938 UNITED STAT 11 T OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to buses and particular- Yly to the construction of the body of the bus. While the invention is particularly directed to the construction of buses, yet I do not wish to be 5 limited thereto as the principle of the invention might be applied to other vehicles.

The general object of the invention is to provide a bus body which is particularly strong and which is particularly simple in construction and l may be readily and economically built.

Another object is to provide a bus in which the outer sheathing of the bus is supported by a plurality of arched channel irons and by an equal number of floor supporting channel irons and in l which the arched roof of the bus body is supported by means of a series of vertically disposed channel iron studs.

Other objects Vwill appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a bus constructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3 3 of Figure 2.

Referring to the drawing, it will be seen that the outer shell I0 of the body is composed of sheet metal and extends arcuately over the iioor II of the bus. At uniformly spaced intervals there are disposed a plurality of arcuate frame bars I2 which are shown as channel irons. The lower ends of these channel irons abut against the ends of an equal number of transversely extending floor beams vI3 which are channel-shaped in cross-section, the web-s of these beams being downwardly angled, as at I4, at the ends of the beams. The side flanges of the channel irons I2 are cut away at I5, so that the web at the ends of the arcuate channel irons I2 ts down and abuts against the angular ends I4 of the iioor beams I3.

The outer shell IIJv of sheet metal is welded,

riveted or otherwise attached to these arcuate channel irons I2, as shown in Figure 2, openings I6 being left in this shell for the windows I'I. Preferably this shell IU will be made in three sections, the two lower sections II)a and the upper or roof section Ib so that the channel irons I2 cross the spaces betweenfthe sections Iiiab and the section I0. The floor beams I3 support the floor II. Extending straight downward from a point opposite the lower edges of the shell section I0b are the channel iron studs I8 which at their lower ends are abutted against the beams I3. To this end, the iianges of the studs I8 may be cut away at the ends and the web of the channel iron be bent over, as shown clearly in Figure 2, so as to abut against the floor and the web of the corresponding frame I2. The upper ends of the studs I8 are disposed within the flanges of the arcuate channel irons I2 and are attached thereto whereby the upper ends of the studs are braced against movement longitudinally of the bus. lo

I have shown this bus as provided with longitudinally extending seats and a middle longitudinally extending bench, but obviously the arrangement of the seats in the interior of the bus may be altered, without departing from the spirit l5 of the invention as dened in the claim.

It will be seen that a bus of this character is Very strong by reason of its approximately semicylindrical character and thus may be made of relatively light material. At the same time, the 20 body is extremely rigid by reason of the plurality of stanchions or frames I2 which support the body at very close intervals. The curved surface of the body permits the bus to roll over in case of accident without injury to the body. -The 25 studding I8 separates the lateral seats or benches from the outer portion of the bus body so that in case of accident, there will be less liability of the persons inside the bus being injured by reason of the fact that they are separated from the side 30 walls of the bus. The side walls may be dented in to a considerable extent without injury to the persons riding in the bus. Furthermore, the upward, outward and then inward curvature of these side walls acts to resist impact. A further 3, advantage in giving the bus a cylindrical contour is that it can be built wider and longer than the present day body and yet be well balanced. Furthermore, each vertical stud I8 makes the transversely extending arcuate frame members I2 o about twenty times as strong as the frame member would be without the studding.

What is claimed is:-

A bus body of the character described, including a plurality of transversely extending floor 45 beams disposed at spaced intervals, an equal number of arcuate channel irons constituting body supporting beans having their ends abutted against the floor beams at the ends thereof and attached thereto, the arcuate channel irons ex- 50 tending integrally outward and upward from the ends of the Vfloor beams and then inward and upward so as to arch over the floor beams, a sheet metal covering for the body formed in three sections extending longitudinally of the vehicle, two 55 of the sections extending upward and outward from the lower ends of the arcuate beams and being attached thereto and the third section extendingl over the roof supporting portion of the body and being attached to the arcuate beams so as to form a transversely arcuate roof, the last named section being spaced from the first named sections to provide window openings between the arcuate beams, and studs equal in number to the arcuate beams extending vertically upward from the flow beams and being attached thereto at their lower ends, the upper ends of the studs being disposed between the iianges of the arcuate beams and being attached thereto, the studs being spaced throughout their entire extent except at their upper ends from the arcuate beams.

JOHN K. FARRIS. 

